Salepi

[Fatsa]

Has anyone here heard of Salepi? It grows up in the mountains in the village my dad was from in Greece. It's a small flower which has roots like a small bulb/potato which is shaped kind of like a hand with fingers. This bulb is dried and then ground into a powder. The powder is boiled in water along with sugar and made into a drink.

Has anyone else every heard of this drink? And does this stuff grow all over Greece or is it just found in that part of Greece, in the mountains near the Albanian border? Btw, it's reeeeaaaallllllly good stuff.
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[Prokomenos]

Never heard of it unless their is a different name for it...

[sea_gr]

I heard it, and here in Thessaloniki, there are some people who sell it in the streets.
But I never drink it, I don't know why, I think it's the smell that not attracts me...

[Ellinas]

Here in Athens too they sell it in the streets. If you go at Omonia square you will most possibly find.

Personally I tried it one time (an aunt of mine made it) and I dis not like it.

[Anngora]

Salep is a Turkish drink, its made from the dried powdered roots of mountain orchid.

[Fatsa]

Originally Posted by Anngora
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Salep is a Turkish drink, its made from the dried powdered roots of mountain orchid.

No. Salepi has been growing in the moutains of Greece and Anatolia for thousands of years before the Turks ever showed up. Salep is only the Turkish word for salepi. Greeks have been drinking salepi when the Turks were still in Mongolia.

[Fatsa]

Originally Posted by Ellinas
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Here in Athens too they sell it in the streets. If you go at Omonia square you will most possibly find.

Personally I tried it one time (an aunt of mine made it) and I dis not like it.

I guess it's an aquired taste. My grandmother has been making it for me since I was a little kid whenever I would go to Greece to visit them. I absolutely love it.

[Ellinas]

Originally Posted by Fatsa
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Salep is only the Turkish word for salepi.

Salepi is a word of clearly Turkish origin. the Greek word for the flower is Orchidea and sometimes it is also being called Sernikovotano which means "male herb". It is called like this because in the past people believed that if pregnant women used to eat it, they would give birth to boys.

Besides Orchidea, Mandragoras (mandrake) is also being called Sernikovotano sometimes for the same reason.